The Problem with Pretty
by LittleMissRedShoes
Summary: A story about Lily Evans and the words that alter her life.
1. Pretty

**The Problem with Pretty**

_By LittleMissRedShoes_

_**(A/N: This is the first thing I have posted in a while. I'm hoping to start publishing some of the ideas I've been working on in my absence. I have about a million of them floating around in this jumbled up head of mine just waiting to get out. This hasn't been beta'd so please excuse any spelling mistakes.)** _

_Disclaimer: Anything you recognise isn't mine. (If it was, I'd be a whole lot richer :p) _

"Pretty." Lily Evans whispered as she looked in the mirror. She stroked her reflection lightly. She hated that word with a passion. She was a pretty girl. She wasn't being big-headed in her acknowledgement of this fact. The truth was, it was hard to miss when it was pointed out to you on at least a daily basis.

She was five when she first noticed. It was at a birthday for her cousin, Mark. It was a big family gathering full of family and friends. While her immediate family was only her parents, her sister, and herself, she had nine cousins, all of whom were boys. She didn't like these big family things because the boys would never let her and Petunia play.

She noticed that her uncles would speak to her cousins about school and sports and books, but all they had to say to her was how pretty she looked in her new party dress. She simply couldn't comprehend why they didn't want to talk to her about her school. Moving up from her nursery class to big school was very important. She go to wear a uniform and was learning to spell words and do sums and everything! Surely that was more interesting than stupid Mark and his stupid football club!

There was a time in her youth when she had naively thought that as she grew older, people might grow less interested in her looking 'pretty' and be more interested in what went on inside her head. She had been sorely mistaken.

Once, she had spoken to Petunia about her worries of never being more than just a pretty face, but Petunia would never understand her anxiety.

"Don't be stupid! At least they take notice of you. Just be the pretty little airhead we all know you are and enjoy the attention."

Lily really didn't like her sister sometimes.

Then, her Hogwarts letter came. Lily was so excited to be going to school and learn all about magic. Surely in a place like this, a witch's ability must count for more than what she looked like. She couldn't wait to get so school. She wrote it neatly on the mother's calendar in the kitchen and circled it several times in red marker. Every morning, she would take great joy in going to the calendar and drawing a large black cross across the previous day. She just knew that her life was about to change and everything was going to be wonderful.

School was everything that she dreamed it would be. She went to class and did her homework in the evenings, she sat in the common room and chatted with the other first year Gryffindor girls, and not once did she hear the word 'pretty'. She was in paradise. For about a month and a half…

Lily was sat at one of the large round tables in Gryffindor common room with her dorm mates, minding her own business while they all worked on their Charms essays that were due in next week. The common room was busy with Gryffindors of all ages, most of whom were excitedly chatting about the upcoming Quidditch match that weekend. It was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. One group in particular was being more rowdy than the rest. The first year boys were in the opposite corner of the common room, huddled together, laughing and shouting, although none of what they were saying was intelligible over the rest of the conversations taking place. Lily was struggling to concentrate with all of the noise. She was just about to excuse herself to go continue working in her dorm when it happened. Possibly the worst moment of Lily's life to date.

James Potter, a fellow first year with messy black hair that always seemed to be in his eyes, climbed up on the table while the other first year boys clapped and cheered. As he loudly cleared his throat, the entire common room fell silent, wondering what this bold little first year could possibly have to say to the whole of Gryffindor house.

And that was when James Potter declared to the whole common room that Lily Evans was the prettiest witch in the whole of Hogwarts.

Lily sank down into her chair, her face flushing pink, as every single one of the room's occupants turned to her. Some of the older students cheered and wolf whistled. One of the older boys even shouted "Go on love! Give 'im a kiss!" If Lily knew a spell that would cause the ground to open up and swallow her whole, she would have gladly used it right then.

She grabbed her thing and practically sprinted up to her dorm. Even up here, she could hear the commotion that was going on in the common room. There was a lot of shouting and laughter. She couldn't cast an effective silencing charm yet, so she had to do with drawing her curtains and crying silently into her pillow. She heard the door to the dormitory open every now and then as another one of her roommates would come to check on her, but Lily pretended to be asleep.

By breakfast the following morning, Lily's embarrassment at the whole situation had developed into full blown indignant rage. How dare James Potter embarrass her like that in front of the whole house! Why couldn't he just keep his stupid opinions to himself?

She stormed all of the way down to the Great Hall where breakfast was being held. She was going to give that James Potter a piece of her mind. James spotted her as she entered the room. Unperturbed by her stormy expression he stood on the bench he had previously been sat on and shouted to her.

"Evans! Hey, Evans! Come sit with us."

Suddenly she felt the eyes of the entire student body were upon her. Whispers began reverberating around the room and she realised, to her horror, that it wasn't just the Gryffindor students who knew about last night's incident. It was the entire school!

"Aww, first year love!" She heard one Hufflepuff witch exclaim to her friend.

A Slytherin boy behind her commented, "So that's Evans. Give her a couple of years and I would." This caused that end of the Slytherin table to erupt into loud guffaws.

But worst of all was the word that she heard in almost every whisper. It was now, more than ever, Lily's least favourite word in the entire world. "Pretty."

As Lily made a hasty escape from the Hall, one fact was crystal clear in her mind. She would never forgive James Potter for this.


	2. No

**The Problem with Pretty**

_By LittleMissRedShoes_

**(A/N: As this chapter developed, I found myself delving into some themes that were a lot deeper than I originally intended. So, I have made the decision to change this story from a T rating as it was originally posted to and M. What started as an idea for a one-shot turned itself into a two shot and now it's going to be four chapters plus and epilogue at least! Oh well. Hope you enjoy!)**

Lily stormed out of the Library. All she wanted was a little peace and quiet while she studied for Potions. She was in her NEWT year for goodness sakes! You would think that by now that her fellow students would have gotten the message that she was here to study, not to flirt with boys!

In that moment, she decided that she hated all men, boys, and everything in between. There were a few names in particular that came at the very top of that list.

Hovering somewhere around third place was Avery, a tall, stocky Slytherin with a nasty temper when he didn't get his way which, where Lily was concerned was always. He could assure her that 'all he wanted was a little kiss' as often as he pleased, but the answer was always a resounding 'No.' Frankly, Lily would rather snog the Giant Squid than him!

Firmly in second place was none other than Severus Snape, Lily's former best friend until what would be referred to only as _The Incident_, by Lily at least. Several of her fellow students had admitted to believing that she and Severus were 'a thing' prior to _The Incident_. While this was never actually the case, this along with a few '_accidents_' that always seemed to occur to the boys that were bothering her, had given her a degree of protection from unwanted male attention. That is until a single word that was now tied for the worst word ever in Lily's mind, destroyed a friendship forever. He had tried to mend their friendship, but her trust had been broken forever. It still broke her heart a little to tell him 'No.'

Then, at the very top of the list by a country mile was none other than James Potter, a boy who clearly had absolutely no comprehension of the word 'No.'

She despised everything about that boy from the way that he was constantly messing with his hair, purposefully making it more and more unruly as the day progressed until it was entirely standing up on end, to the way that wherever she went, he was always just _there_. No matter where she went within the castle and grounds, he was waiting for her, usually accompanied by his gang of 'Marauder' friends, flashing his stupid dopey grin that made all of the other girls in the school swoon.

Why couldn't he just find one of them to fixate on? In the six and a half years that she had the misfortune of knowing James Potter, he had not so much as glanced at another witch. Lily might admire his persistence and dedication if it wasn't so bloody annoying!

Every day he would tail her like a little lost puppy, offering to carry her book to her classes for her, telling her how pretty she looked (Ugh!), and asking her a thousand and one meaningless questions about her life, her family, her hobbies and interests, just so that she would have to talk to him. She had tried everything she could think of to get him to leave her alone. Ignoring him didn't work, neither did humouring him which she did in the hopes that he would get bored and find someone else to chase. Asking him outright to leave her alone didn't work either.

She had even tried speaking to the headmaster. He had been no help at all, telling her that he couldn't punish a student for trying to be friendly with her, and that unless he was physically inappropriate with her, there was nothing he could do. She had tried to argue with him that it was harassment. His advances were completely unfounded and unwanted. His response to this angered her more than anything had in her entire life.

"A pretty girl like you should enjoy the attention of a nice lad like Mr Potter. I, personally, think that you would make a lovely couple."

She never went back to Dumbledore with her problems again.

* * *

><p>Lily contemplated returning to the Gryffindor common room, but she was just as likely to be harassed by some fifth years with a death wish there as she apparently was in the Library. She decided instead to find and empty classroom where she could finish her potions essay in peace.<p>

She wandered through corridors searching for a classroom that was far enough off the beaten track that nobody would accidently stumble upon her hiding place. She had just decided on a little used classroom on the third floor when she turned a corner and ran into something very solid.

She looked up into the predatory eyes of Avery. '_No!' _she thought, kicking herself for being so far away from where anyone might come across them in time to rescue her from this Slytherin that she usually so diligently avoided.

Before she could even process what was happening, she was pinned against the wall, one of his hands on either side of her, effectively trapping her. He wasn't quite touching her, but he was entirely too close for comfort. She could feel his body heat radiating from his skin from this distance, and feel his breath on her face as he looked down at her.

"Fancy meeting you here, Evans." He quipped.

"A-Avery" Lily responded, her slight stutter betraying the fear that she was desperately trying to conceal. She was very aware that her wand was concealed in her school satchel which now lay on the ground beside her foot, having slipped from her shoulder as she was knocked into the wall.

"Tell me, Princess, what are you doing out in this part of the castle all by yourself?" He asked. One of his hands picked up a loose strand of hair that had fallen from her ponytail and now hung beside her cheek. He played with the strand gently, twirling it between his fingers.

"I was just going to find an empty classroom to study in." She kept her eyes cast downwards, afraid that if she met his gaze, she would lose what remained of her composure.

"A pretty little thing like you should be out socialising on a Saturday afternoon, not all alone studying." Before she could argue that she liked studying, he continued. "If you were my girl, Evans, you'd never have to work another day again. I'd take care of you."

"But I'm not your girl." Lily whispered quietly, doubting that she had managed to get across the air of defiance that she had been aiming for in that statement.

"Not yet." Was his response. Lily could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

His lips descended upon hers. They were forceful and wet. She remained frozen and unresponsive, eyes tightly closed as he pressed himself against her. He cupped her face in his hands, tilting her face up towards him for access. He swiped his tongue against her lip, trying desperately to get a response. But none came.

He broke away suddenly. Lily flinched as his fist slammed into the wall beside her head.

"Dammit Evans!" he cried.

She couldn't help it. A single tear escaped her still closed eyes and made its path down her cheek. He must have spotted it because she felt his hand come up to her face and wipe it away.

"I'm sorry, Princess." He whispered.

A gentle kiss was pressed against her forehead, and then he was gone.

Lily stood completely still for a full minute, praying that he wouldn't come back. When he didn't she sank down the wall and sat with her knees pressed up against her chest. "No." She whispered, but it was too little, too late. She allowed the tears to fall.


	3. Obligation

**The Problem with Pretty**

_By LittleMissRedShoes_

**(A/N: Time for a little bit of Lily/James. I used to read a lot of this pairing when I first starting reading fanfiction ten years ago. **_Wow that makes me feel old! _**I've not read any of this pairing in a long while, but I have to admit I am really enjoying writing them. It feels kind of like coming back full circle. Anyway, this chapter is a little conversation heavy, something I always feel a little awkward writing, so any hints and tips about how I can improve this or any other aspect of my writing are greatly appreciated. Just hit that review button below! And on that note... on with the story!)**

"Evans?"

Lily jumped in shock as she walked through the common room. She hadn't expected anyone to be in the common room this afternoon. She turned around to find where the voice had come from to find James Potter.

"James! You scared me. Why aren't you at the Quidditch pitch with everyone else? The match starts in an hour." It was the second match of the School year, Gryffindor vs Slytherin. While Lily usually didn't care one jot about Quidditch, today she was hoping that the Slytherin team would be pummelled by her housemates. After certain events earlier in the day, she wasn't feeling particularly charitable towards Slytherin house. And there was one chaser in particular who she hoped got to meet the business end of a bludger.

James raised one eyebrow at her use of his given name. She had once told him to never call her by hers again unless he wanted to be hexed. And he knew first hand that the witch could cast a nasty hex or two when she wanted.

Something felt a little off kilter. She was being almost civil to him. While it was a welcome change, he was certain that is wasn't because she had suddenly changed her mind about him. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy, like she had been crying and she had her arms wrapped protectively around her middle, her wand grasped in her right hand. James knew that when she walked the halls her wand was always safely stowed in her satchel, as no magic was to be used in the corridors, and Lily Evans was nothing if not a stickler for the rules. No, something was very, very wrong.

"Why have you been crying, Lily?" He asked the witch gently.

"I'm not crying!" she snapped entirely too defensively for anyone to have believed her. "Anyway, why do you care? Just go and play your stupid little game with your friends and leave me alone. Why won't people just leave me alone?" Her voice cracked a little as she spoke.

"I'm not leaving you while you're upset. Please tell me what happened."

"Why? Because I _owe _you an explanation? The whole world thinks I owe them something. That they can just touch me whenever they want. Take whatever they want."

"Who touched you, Lily?" Whoever had hurt her would pay, he would make sure of that.

"Like it matters. You're just the same." Her words cut him more than anything that she had ever said to him before.

"I've never touched you."

Lily thought back, searching for a memory to prove him wrong. Anything from grabbing her hand to a peck on the cheek, but none were forthcoming. He was right. He had never once so much as brushed up against her in all their years at Hogwarts. For a split second, she wondered why. Maybe he didn't care about her as much as he claimed. She banished these thoughts, but not quickly enough for her not to register the slight disappointment that came with the idea.

"Maybe not, but you still think I owe you my time and attention."

What hurt James the most was that she was right. He had just wanted her to like him. He wanted to know her so badly that he had forgotten to consider whether she wanted to know him, which she clearly didn't.

"You're right." He admitted. "I'm sorry."

She was entirely taken aback. She had never expected any acknowledgement of this at all, let alone an apology. She smiled a little at him. "Thank you. I'm sorry for going off at you before."

"S'alright." He replied, running his hand through his hair as he stood before her awkwardly, not really knowing how to react to her being nice to him. "Would you like to talk about what happened?" he asked, hoping that she would. He just had to know what had made her so upset, because if he didn't know then he couldn't fix it for her. The only thing he wanted in the world was to make her happy.

"I'm probably just overreacting." She replied. "Avery kissed me and I didn't want him to. He didn't hurt me or anything. I'm just being stupid."

James was going to kill that slimy son-of-a-bitch. "You're not stupid." He told her.

"It just gets to me. People think that because they think I'm pretty, I have this obligation to them to be nice and smile, and accept the flattery and catcalls." She didn't know why she was opening up to James Potter of all people, but she somehow knew that he wouldn't tell her to just enjoy the attention like everyone else did. "Nobody wants to know who is underneath. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be telling you all of this."

"I know you." He told her, his voice barely above a whisper. In response, she let out a short derisive laugh. How could he possibly know her?

"You are Lily Evans, the smartest witch in that I have ever met. You have a sister called Petunia, but you don't get on with her very well. You hate strawberries and love the colour yellow. You're top of our class in Potions and Charms, but your favourite class is Transfiguration because it doesn't come as naturally to you. When you perform a new type of Transfiguration successfully for the first time, your whole face lights up because you feel like you've really achieved something. Your favourite month is April because it rains a lot and you like to sit beside the window and listen to the raindrops on the glass. I know that you go on holiday to France every summer with your family and that Paris is your favourite city in the whole world. You love going there with your parents, but you sometimes wish you could just go alone so that you could visit all of the magical sights that you can't go to when you're with them. I know-"

He was cut off by Lily's lips crashing into his. She was completely overcome. She had no idea that he had really cared about her. The real her. What she liked, what she didn't. She had been looking for someone to want to know her for so many years now, and it seemed that he had been there all along. Cliché perhaps, but also very true.

James wasn't really sure how to respond. He had wanted this for such a long time that he almost couldn't believe that it had actually happened. She pulled away from him sharply, bringing her fingers up to touch her lips.

"James," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. Here I am making all of this fuss about Avery kissing me without my permission, and here I am doing the same to you."

James brought his hand up to cup her cheek. "Lily Evans. I want to kiss you today, and every day for the rest of our lives." He kissed her deeply. The passion that was present in that one kiss was like nothing that either of them could have ever dreamed of.

James manoeuvred them to the back of one of the sofas in the common room and lifted her up to rest on the back it, his lips never leaving hers for a moment. This brought her up to his height allowing him better access to her mouth, as well as having the desirable side effect of making her cling onto him tightly to prevent herself from falling. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, her legs, circling his waist, pulling him closer. He realised that, rather awkwardly, she could most likely feel the effect that their kiss was having on him, but when she moaned into his mouth and used her legs around his waist to draw that particular part of his anatomy closer, he found he no longer cared.

She forgot all about the fact that this was a public common area, and that anyone could simply walk in and see them. She forgot that he had to leave for the Quidditch match or he would be late, and surely someone would come looking for him any second now. She forgot all about her tears from earlier and that she was supposed to hate him, because all her mind was filled with was the fact that she was kissing James Potter and it felt good.

The clock in the common room chimed, signalling five o'clock. She pulled herself away from his lips for just long enough to exclaim "The Quidditch match!"

"They can play without me." He sucked her lower lip into his mouth, eliciting a moan.

"They can't you're the captain, and the seeker." He placed tiny kisses down the side of her neck. He groaned as she disentangled herself from him. "James you, have to go."

"Can't I just" _kiss_ "stay here" _kiss _"with you?" He nibbled lightly on her earlobe, breaking her resolve as she arched into him and drew him back for another minute of heavy snogging. He whimpered a little as she drew back from him again.

"You're going to be late." She informed him.

"Come watch the match?" he asked her.

"I don't watch Quidditch." Was her reply.

"Then don't watch the match, just watch me."

"On one condition…." She looked up at him with her wide green eyes.

"Anything." He assured her. And he meant it.

The corner of her mouth was upturned in a wicked little smirk. "Kick their arses!"

James grinned and grabbed her hand as they dashed out of the common room headed in the direction of the Quidditch pitch.


	4. Love

**The Problem with Pretty**

_By LittleMissRedShoes_

**(A/N: Here is the final instalment of 'The Problem with Pretty'. It's pretty fluffy really in relation to the other chapters, but I think it rounds of the story nicely. **_(Hopefully you do too! Like it, or hate it click that review button and let me know) _**I really enjoyed writing this and I want to give a big thank you to those who have reviewed, followed and favorited this story. It means a lot. For those of you who are interested, the song I had in mind when writing his chapter is 'Thinking Out Loud' by Ed Sheeran. So, without further ado, the final chapter!) **

James awoke to the sunlight streaming in through a crack in the curtains. He automatically reached out for the body that should have been beside him, to draw it closer, but found the other side of the bed to be disappointingly empty. He threw the covers back, the cool morning air giving him Goosebumps as it washed over his bare skin. He got up in search of his clothes.

He found his tartan flannel pyjama bottoms on top of the dresser, where they had landed last night. How they had managed to get all the way up there, he wasn't sure, but then he had been somewhat distracted at the time. He searched around in vain for his pyjama top that he had also been wearing the previous night, but to no avail. He found instead a thin grey jumper that had been flung over the back of the armchair in the corner at some point, and pulled that over his head instead.

As soon as he opened the bedroom door, he hear music coming from the kitchen, as well as the clattering of pots and pans. Good to know that the silencing charms around the bedroom were still holding up. He headed down the stairs in the direction of the noises. As he got closer to the open door to the kitchen, he could hear soft humming along to the song. His bare feet padded along the cool tiles of the hallway until he reached the door to the kitchen. Once there, he leaned against the doorway and took a moment to appreciate the sight that was before him.

Lily hadn't seen him stood at the kitchen door and was dancing around the kitchen to a slow, melodic song wearing what looked like his pyjama shirt and very little else. She appeared to be entirely lost in the music emanating from the wizarding wireless as she swayed back and forth in time with the beat, her eyes closed. Her long red hair was piled messily on top of her head, with several wisps falling down from the confines of the clip that held it in place. There was something about the sight that just felt so natural and so right.

As she continued to dance around the kitchen, she raised her arms above her head, James' shirt rising up her thigh inch by seductive inch. James was suddenly torn between wanting to watch this moment unfold in all its beauty before him, and wanting to be a part of it. He slipped into the room quietly. She still seemed to be unaware of his presence.

She gasped audibly as he slipped his hands around her waist, standing behind her and began to sway with her gently. He placed a soft kiss to the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

"You'd better keep quiet." She whispered softly. "My husband is asleep upstairs." He gave a low chuckle at this and she turned in his arms to face him.

"Oh, it's you." She said, smiling up at him. "Good Morning." She reached up and kissed him.

"Good Morning." He replied before spinning her around the kitchen. She laughed gleefully at this, clinging tightly to him tightly and burying her face in his shoulder. He continued whiling her around the kitchen until she cried out suddenly.

"Stop! James, stop!" He let go of her just in time for her to run to the kitchen and begin to heave. He rushed to her side and rubbed her back as she emptied the contents of her stomach into the sink. When she was done, she turned on the tap and started towards the cupboard where the cleaning supplies were kept.

"No no no." James told her. "You sit. I'll clean." He manoeuvred her to the other side of the kitchen and lifted her onto the counter. He stood between her legs and leaned in to kiss her.

"Ew. James, no. I taste gross." She said, disgusted.

"Lily," he replied. "I want to kiss you even when you taste like puke. And I'll want to kiss you when you've got a belly like a beach ball, ankles like tree trunks and weigh the same as a small hippogriff, before you ask." She frowned at him. "And you, young lady," He turned his attention to the slight swell in her abdomen, "you quit making your mummy sick or we're going to have words."

"It's not _**his **_fault." She replied, emphasising he HIS for James' benefit. "You were the one spinning me around the place."

"You hear that princess?" James continued talking to her stomach, choosing to ignore the second accusatory part of Lily's statement, "Your silly mummy is under the mistaken impression that you are going to be a boy. Feel free to give her a bloody good kicking for that one."

"I'll kick you in a minute." Lily muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" James asked innocently, knowing full well what she had just said.

"I said he's going to be a boy."

"I say, she'll be a girl." He replied.

"Boy."

"Girl."

"Boy!"

They had been having this argument for weeks now, both convinced that they were the one that was right.

"Five galleons says she's a girl." James cried.

"Keep your galleons, I'll bet you a month's worth of nappy duty." Lily said, extending her hand. James shook it firmly.

"You're on!" he said, leaning in to peck his wife on the lips. She forgot that she had told him 'no' until she saw the triumphant grin on his face, as if he had gotten one over on her. She scowled.

As he turned back to begin cleaning the sink, he said over his shoulder, "I hope you have fun shovelling shit for a month my pretty, pretty little wife."

He was baiting her now, trying to get her to bite back at him. She knew that he enjoyed their little spats as much as she did. It was just another part of the passion between them. She had once confided in him her dislike for that word, the one that used to make her blood boil, but she found that it didn't bother her anymore. She had decided a long time ago to not let words bother her anymore. No, the only word that Lily Potter cared about was one she was lucky enough to feel surrounded by every day. Love.

"I love you, Mrs Potter."

"I love you too, Mr Potter."

xxx


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